I was really nervous about cold pitching. Extremely nervous. Mainly because I did not want to just pitch a random company about a random product. I figured they would just turn me down. Why would they want to promote a product that has been successful for years?

Then I read something somewhere about PRnewswire. I dug around the site (which is extremely confusing) and set myself up with daily emails for new and future products hitting the market. I also composed a standardized “pitch” template in my email client specifically for PRnewswire pitches which I can simply change the company name or product and adjust the email as needed.

I started pitching companies whose products were of interest to me. And the responses poured in. I have actually had to schedule giveaways now so I don’t have too many posted at one time (I am not a giveaway-only blog). I’ve received a lot of great products from cold pitching, especially a lot of food items, video games, and movies. As an example, I had a review and giveaway for a Playstation game which I received 1 copy to review and 5 copies to give away. That’s approximately $360 worth of products! And they pitched me in the same email for another product.

If a press release has a PR company listed at the bottom, send them a pitch. If it has the email of someone from the company at the bottom, use your best judgment (i.e. do you think they’ll respond?). All they can do is ignore your request or say no. But many say yes! PR companies have the highest “yes” rates for me.

So don’t be afraid. Write your pitch email. Include your page rank, page views, monthly uniques, use proper spelling and grammar, be professional, and specifically state that you are wanting to promote their product by hosting a review and giveaway on your blog (I suggest using that wording exactly). You don’t want to beat around the bush; just flat out say what you want in your pitch. Often times, you’ll get it.

I hope this has helped some of you. Maybe if you are nervous about cold pitching like I was, you’ll give it a shot. After all, you’ve got nothing to lose!

Thank you for this informative post! I have cold-pitched a few times but it was to companies that had worked with bloggers in the past. I’d like to know how exactly you set up your profile with PR Newswire? I’m not sure what to check as I don’t want to miss anything but don’t want to be inundated either.